Shifting Winds
by iwrestledabearonce
Summary: Hailey Porter has her life wrapped around her finger. Until a new year at Sky High she opens her eyes to the reality of what's going around her. Lash/Warren/OC
1. First Day Blues

**Disclaimer: I don't own the premise of Sky High.**

Chapter 1

Sky High; the school where superheroes were made. It's highly functional anti-gravity device kept it floating above the earth and constantly moving to prevent anyone from discovering its location that may have nefarious plans for the school. Some people dreamed of attending and graduating Sky High. I constantly dreamed of getting out. Like a couple hundred other kids we attended high school there and everyone knows; high school sucks.

'Super_,'_ I thought to myself. The first day of school; new freshman, new classes, new books, "But ahh, new clothes too," I said quietly to myself with a smirk on my face. I put on my new denim skirt and a v-neck navy t-shirt. I starred at myself in the mirror as I played with my long straight blonde hair. My adornment of myself was broken by a knock on the door.

"Hailey, you need to get going if you don't want to be late," my equally attractive mother announced. People said we could be sisters, possibly because my mother was resisting aging. That was part of her powers, accompanied by telepathy, which I had inherited. My father had the power of shape shifting, into a tiger; which I had also inherited, well sort of, only not nearly as cool. I could shape shift alright, into a cat; no, not a cool wild cat, just a regular domestic cat. My father however had been one of the most renowned super villains; well I suppose he still was, except that he'd been put away, by none other than 'The Commander' himself. Come to think of it, the Commander's son was attending Sky High this year as well, should be interesting. I wasn't the only student who's father he'd put away. My father's partner, Barron Battle had also been put away, however I, unlike Barron's son, held no grudge against anyone for it, except perhaps my father.

"Alright mom, I'm off," I smiled and grabbed my book bag. I gave my mom a kiss on the cheek and jogged down the steps. As I opened the door my mother cleared her throat. I turned around as she held out an apple.

"You need to eat something," she insisted. I laughed as I held my hand out, the apple shot from her hand to mine, and quickly made its way to my mouth. I took a bite and waved a final goodbye.

I continued to eat as I walked to the bus stop. At my bus stop stood two guys, both in my class, grins spread over both of their faces as I approached. Before I even had the chance to say so much as a cheerful hello one of their arms stretched down the street and wrapped around my waist pulling me quickly over to them. The culprit leaned down and gave me a kiss. I smiled. "Mmm, hello to you as well," I looked up at him; he was tall, much taller than myself, with dark shaggy hair. He wore his trademark long sleeved black and white striped shirt under a t-shirt look. His name was Lash, and we'd been dating since our freshman year. His partner in crime, slash best friend, was known as Speed. He had the appearance of a guy in much need of a treadmill, and yet surprisingly enough his power was agility. As for Lash, he was like a human stretch Armstrong. The bus pulled up and screeched to a stop. We climbed aboard and took our seats. Everyone was chattering apprehensively about the new school year.

After a short bus ride of flying around we arrived at Sky High, the brilliant gravity resistant school sat peacefully surrounded by clouds. After we got off the bus we stood at the top of the stairs up by the school and scanned the crowd for any old friends. Just as I was about to point out the new group of freshman descending the stairs of Ron Wilson "the bus driver's" school bus, the epitome of everything I can't stand came up from behind me.

"Hailey! How was your summer, I missed you!" she said. I turned around with a sarcastic smile on my face.

"Oh my god! It was awesome! How was yours?" I replied in a high-pitched tone. Her smile faded to a glare.

"And I see you haven't lost your… charm," she replied. Her gaze shifted to a large group of freshman being rounded up by Speed.

"Lash!" I said with a forceful tone, but I was too late, he was already stretching his way down the steps to 'greet' the freshmen. I groaned and shook my head. Gwen Grayson and I had our issues from day one. She was basically a dark haired version of me, well a taller dark haired version of me; who had a practically useless power of being a techopath. She walked down the steps to do her bull shitted "Student Body President" speech. She was the reason the hero's thought they were as they were, the rulers of the school, so to speak. Lash and Speed walked back up the stairs, with out stopping Lash grabbed my hand and led me in the door. The school year was starting alright, and I had a feeling it was going to be an interesting one.


	2. Lunch Time

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Lunch time. The one time of the day when all the children can come together and talk about non-sense that no one cares much about. There it was; the table of freshman sidekicks. It was my turn to welcome them. I stood up from Lash, Speed and my table and calmly made my way over to the end of their table. I stopped and placed my palms down on the table bending over slightly as I smiled.

"Hi, I just thought I'd come over here and introduce myself, I'm Hailey Porter," I said cheerfully. The whole table looked at me as if trying to gauge my sincerity. Finally a girl with red hair and a floral appearance spoke up.

"I'm Layla," she offered her hand. I smiled thankfully and took it.

"It's a pleasure, what's your power?" I asked.

"She manipulates plants," a boy with dark brown shaggy hair said.

I raised an eyebrow, "Manipulates plants? Hmm, interesting, how about you?" I asked the boy.

"Will Stronghold…" that was all he had to say.

"The Commander and Jetstream's son, pleasure, what about the rest of you?" I wanted to be the one of the few that didn't gush, and make it a bigger deal than it was. I knew what it was like to be patronized in my parent's stead.

"I'm Ethan, I melt," an African American kid said.

"Zach Attack, I glow!" A brightly dressed kid with bleached blonde hair announced proudly.

"Magenta, I'm a shape shifter," I lit up.

"Yay, a fellow shape shifter! Into what?" I replied.

"Guinea pig, you?"

"Cat! Probably even slightly less useful" I replied and laughed, "I just got lucky with another power."  
"And what's that?" Layla asked. I concentrated on the table lifting it a foot into the air. I set it down gently as they all smiled. "Impressive," Layla complimented. I smiled.

"Ehh, I guess whatever, so how is power placement going for all of you?" I asked.

"Crappy, you're looking at this year's sidekick crew," Ethan announced. I smiled.

"Hey don't worry about it; I don't believe in all that labeling stuff anyways, it's so useless. I prefer to just be whatever," I spilled the truth to them. Layla seemed to appreciate my point of view the most. "Well hey I got to go, but you guys and gals just hang on, trust me, the year will get better." I turned around to see Warren Peace changing his glare from Will Stronghold to a smile directed at me. "Hey Warren," I greeted him and took a seat next to him. Lash noticed me too, he didn't like Warren, and he especially didn't like me talking to him. Warren and I had been friends for a long time, since we were kids, so whether Lash liked it or not we'd still talk.

"Hey," he said. Warren wasn't exactly known to have a lot of friends; I was one of the few. We had our fathers in common, and we got along fine. I knew the side of Warren very few people knew. He had long shoulder length black hair with a single red streak in it. He wore mostly dark colors and a black leather jacket. People tended to stay away from him because of the intimidation factor.

"And how are you today?"

"Eh okay,"

"I see you starring a hole through Will's head," I joked. He glared at me.

"Hailey you know what his dad did to ours," he whispered forcefully through his teeth.

"Yeah, and Warren, you know what our dad's did to the world," I noticed Warren getting more and more angry by the second. "Never mind, just you know, take it easy on him." I patted him on the back as I migrated back to Lash and Speed.

"You know, for my girlfriend you sure spend a lot of time with other guys," Lash said sarcastically.

"Lash layoff, I was just introducing myself to the new kids,"

"Yeah, freshman losers," Speed clarified.

"Who are you to judge tubby?" I quickly got sick of Speeds arrogance. He thought he was hot stuff, when really, he needed a reality check. Lash knew we weren't totally fond of each other, and time after time Speed was chosen over me, the girlfriend. Well that's what I get for dating a total jerk. I redirected my attention to Penny and Gwen's table which had escalated to an obnoxious volume level. Penny, an African American student who had the ability to multiply herself, as if one wasn't enough. Unlike most heroes who would give their left arm and possibly also their right one just to be able to hang out with them, I preferred to keep my distance. I found them obnoxious and way too into themselves. "Hey, you guys done?" I asked. Gwen and Penny shifted their gaze to me and glared.

"Hailey, why don't you shut up?" the Penny's suggested.

"Oh clever, well I was just thinking the same thing, your obnoxious voices are making it difficult to eat,"

"Don't be jealous," Penny replied. I shrugged. I didn't have the desire or energy to deal with them today. I gave Lash a look and he quickly understood. We got up and left the lunchroom. Lunch time was over.


	3. Changing Lash

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

_Mad science._ 'Oh my favorite,' I thought. I sat next to Warren, and for our first day Mr. Medulla, with his overly large bald cranium, was wasting little if any time; our first project already. My partner was easily selected; Warren. Mad science was the only class I didn't have with Lash this year, and I'd admit it was a total relief just for an hour to get away.

"So Hailey, we're working together on this right?" Warren asked. I smiled.

"Well duh! Any excuse to hang out with my best buddy outside of school!" I half-joked. I loved spending time with Warren. I rarely got a chance to though with Lash around. He didn't let me hang out with any other guys, unless of course they were well known to swing the other way.

"Class, quiet down!" Mr. Medulla began. "For your first project you will be given a scaled down model of a city. Positioned above the city is a giant heat ray, our villain, shown here," Mr. Medulla picked up a small Polly Pocket toy and smiled, "Evil Polly Pocket, has planned to destroy the city by burning it down, you however must find a way to redesign the heat ray to destroy the super villain only. I want a five page paper written on how you managed to do this as well. So good luck, and you have until next Friday, so enjoy and choose your partners wisely, so you can succeed, or fail together." I had to smile at Warren who I could tell was trying as hard as he could not to notice.

After a long boring day of classes I walked out front to meet Lash, of course as usual Lash was no where to be found. I noticed Warren sitting on a bench reading a book. I walked up and sat down.

"How's it going?" I asked. He looked up at me as though he was about to chew me out. I raised an eyebrow. His expression relaxed when he noticed it was me.

"Hailey, you almost just got torched," he said. I laughed.

"Well let's be glad that was an almost then right?" I asked. He nodded. "So I was thinking we could get together after school tomorrow and work on our project?"

"Well I have to work, but I should be out by 8:30 so if that's not too late we could meet up at my place and work on it for a while, my mom's been dieing to see you anyways," he suggested.

"Yeah that should…" I didn't get the chance to finish.

"Hailey, what the hell? I thought we agreed to meet at the front of the school after school got out?!" Lash scolded me. I looked around me with a sarcastic look on my face.

"Lash, umm, we are at the front of the school, and hey! We met!" I replied. He scoffed at me. I knew I was just provoking him, and I was enjoying it.

"So are we hanging out tonight or what?" He asked getting angrier with every word. I had to take one more shot at him so I shrugged.

"I don't know are you still going to act like a total jerk?" I asked. He stretched out his arm, grabbed mine forcefully, and pulled me up to him. He was fuming. I shook him off and turned around to say goodbye to Warren. There it was; something I'd never seen before; Warren was mad, no not mad _he_ was fuming. I could tell he was trying to hold it back so we wouldn't notice. I leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Calm down, I'll see you tomorrow." He turned his head towards me as his eyes softened. Our faces were almost touching. I lifted an eyebrow and cocked a tiny smile. He released his breath.

"He better watch it," was all he said. I stood up and hooked my arm on Lash's. Before we left he leaned down to Warren.

"Stay away from Hailey," he said quietly, just loud enough for me to hear. Although I was pretty sure he didn't want me to hear that. Warren looked as though he wanted to rip Lash's head off. I don't know that I would have stopped him either. I tugged on his arm to stop a fight from ensuing. Lash didn't fight me. We climbed on our bus and embarked on our way home.

It wasn't until halfway through the bus ride that I noticed that Speed wasn't with us, and hadn't been since after school. I turned from my gaze out the window and looked at Lash.

"Where's Speed?" I asked. Lash looked at me.

"I don't know," he replied.

"How can you not know? Don't you two like share a brain?" I asked. He shrugged.

"No, I told him to find something else to do today," Lash said impatiently. I could tell there was something wrong; it's very rare to see Lash without Speed and visa versa.

"Wait, what?" I didn't believe it. Lash never puts me in front of Speed.

"Yeah, well he wanted to hang out with us and I don't know I just didn't really want him too. I thought maybe it'd be nice to spend some time just the two of us," he looked at me and smiled. But it wasn't that smart ass smile that he usually had wiped across his face. It was a smile I hadn't seen since the first time we kissed, it was real, it had 'I love you Hailey' written all over it. Not that he'd ever actually say that when anyone was around. I didn't really want to respond. I grabbed his hand and rested my head on his shoulder. The bus landed and ours was the first stop. We got off and walked to my house hand in hand.

"Hey, do you remember when you first asked me out?" I asked him. He looked down at me.

"Well I remember asking you to homecoming our freshman year, and I was terrified," he laughed a little. I smiled. He did remember.

"Why would you be terrified?" I asked.

"Well you were pretty intimidating. You're gorgeous, and I knew you'd already turned down at least five other guys, then I remember dancing with you at homecoming and asking you to be my girlfriend, I was so scared you'd say no."

"Yeah well I thought you were cute, but I'll admit I never thought we'd stay together this long," I replied. And I didn't, but truthfully sometimes I wondered how we did stay together. I mean, things weren't horrible. But they definitely weren't great.

We finally got to my house and walked inside. My mother was standing at the kitchen counter starting dinner. "Hey Hailey… and Lash, I haven't seen you around in a while,"

He smiled. My mom didn't like Lash very much, she thought I could do better; she wanted me to do better. Of course I'd never tell Lash that. "Yeah Ms. Porter, I've just been a little umm… busy lately," Lash replied. Mom smiled.

"Will you be staying for dinner?" she asked. He looked down at me. I shrugged.

"Whatever you want," I said. He smiled.

"Well if that's okay with you I'd love to," he replied. She smiled.

"Of course," she replied. I smiled at the two of them. But something seemed weird. Usually when they were both in the same room everything was awkward and quiet. I cleared by throat.

"Mmkay well we're going upstairs," I said while dragging Lash out of the room. We went upstairs into my bedroom. I closed the door behind me. Lash stood awkwardly in the middle of my bedroom when my tiny cream colored Pekepoo Roxy popped out from under the bed wagging her tail and squealing with excitement. He looked down and picked her up. She wiggled and kissed him on the nose while still squealing. I walked up and took her from him. "I think Roxy's trying to steal you from me!" I set her down on the bed and wrapped my arms around his neck. He smiled and put his hands on around my waist.

"No one could do that," he smiled and kissed me. I smiled and looked up at him.

"There's something different about you today," I starred up at him then sat down on the bed. He sat down next to me and wrapped his arms around me.

"I guess I just feel like I haven't been the best boyfriend to you lately," he admitted. _Oh really, I don't see it._ I thought to myself. "I want things to go back to the way they were. Hailey, I want you to realize how much I love you, and I want you to know that all the time. I know I've been a jerk lately, and I was just thinking that I don't know what I would do if I lost you."

"Lash, this all seems so nice, but I just find it hard to believe that you're being serious, I mean, I saw how you acted earlier with Warren," he didn't even let me finish.

"Hailey, if it were any other guy I wouldn't care. But I don't know, I just get a bad feeling about him," I couldn't believe that. Warren had been better to me than Lash had, well at least lately. At the time I wasn't even sure I believed how sincere Lash was even being. I sighed.

"Well he's been one of my best friends since we were both little kids, and I'm sorry, but that's not changing anytime soon," I laid it down; I wasn't giving in on this one. To my surprise Lash smiled.

"Okay, I'm sorry." That couldn't be it. There had to be more. No, he was done.

"Really?" I asked. He smiled and kissed me.

"Really," I smiled and kissed him back. I fell back onto the bed as we continued kissing. Roxy began getting impatient that no attention was being paid to her and began trying to dig her way in between us. I laughed and pushed him gently up.

"Looks like someone else needs some loving'," I said. I could see her little doggy lips smiling as I picked her up and cuddled her close. "Why don't we do our homework then watch a movie?" I suggested. Lash smiled and kissed me again.

"Sounds good," he replied.

The rest of the night went surprisingly smoothly. It ended in a soft kiss on my front porch before he went on his way home. I went back upstairs and changed into my silk pajama pants and a pink cami. I braided my long hair to one side and lay down with Roxy by my side. I closed my eyes and listened to Everchanging by Rise Against as I drifted off to sleep. For the first time in a long time, I felt completely at peace.


	4. One Weird Day

_Tuesday morning, gross._ It was the second day of school. I got out of bed and did my normal 'getting ready for school routine'. I found a torn up pair of blue jeans to slip into and a black and grey Affliction t-shirt to wear. I slipped on my black and white Etnies and ran down the stairs. My hair was unusually messy this morning, I didn't have the patience to try and tame it, not today. To my surprise when I went downstairs I had a visitor sitting at the kitchen table.

"Lash? What are you doing here?" I asked in shock. He stood up upon my arrival and kissed my cheek.

"Just thought I'd stop by and walk you to the bus stop," he said with a smile. My mom nodded her head in approval. I was confused. 'Who are you and what did you do with my boyfriend?' That's what I wanted to say. But instead I decided to feed the dog.

"Well okay, I guess I'll just feed Roxy then we can go," I turned around when my mom was standing with an empty dog food can in hand.

"Already done," she said happily. I looked over to the corner of the kitchen and sure enough Roxy was standing side-by-side with my mom's little Yorkie Baxter indulging in a meal of beef and liver with gravy. I nodded but held my confused look.

"Commendable, thanks, see you later," I said as I grabbed Lash's hand and led him out the door.

"Thanks for the breakfast Ms. Porter!" he said quickly before I shut the door. We walked to the bus stop rather quickly. I wasn't much in the mood for talking and no one was going to change that, I was far too confused, and surprisingly uncomfortable with what seemed to be going on around me, and I still hadn't figured it out. But until I did I didn't want to be involved in a conversation. Speed stood at the bus stop looking just as anxious and confused as I was. Only he was much more willing to share his feelings.

"Dude, where were you this morning, I waited in front of your house for like five minutes!" Speed complained.

"I went to meet Hailey at her house, I left you a message," Lash replied.

"Why?" Speed asked.

"So you'd know where I was," Lash replied.

"No I mean why did you go to Hailey's house?" Speed asked only getting more and more anxious and confused. I looked up at Lash, I wouldn't say it, but I wanted to know why just as much as Speed did. Lash just shrugged.

"Because she's my girlfriend, and good boyfriends walk their girlfriends to the bus stop," Lash said. Speed looked at me. I shrugged.

"Since when are you a good boyfriend?" he asked. I laughed a little. Not meaning to out loud, it just sort of slipped. I quickly apologized and made it out to be a cough. Unfortunately Speed had a good point, and still not wanting to admit it I wanted to know what was going through Lash's head. Maybe he hit his head really hard in gym class or something, I didn't know, but I intended on finding out, and soon.

Sadly enough we arrived at school on time. I had been one of the lucky few to be selected to be a teaching assistant; oh and the sweetness of it, not just any teaching assistant. I was Mr. Boy's teaching assistant, which really wasn't all that bad, Mr. Boy taught the sidekicks… which meant an hour of me doing easy slash fun work. I liked this year's sidekicks; they seemed like a banging crowd if you will. I walked into the classroom filled with chattering freshman. 'They seem nervous, well I guess I was too my first week here.' I thought. Layla was talking with Will; the way she looked at him wasn't the way best friends look at each other. She loved him, she so did. She looked up at me, I'd been spotted. Oddly enough, they all looked up at me. I guess Layla was the only one who felt as though I needed to be greeted or even acknowledged for that matter.

"Hailey, what are you doing in here, I thought you were a hero?"

I laughed, "yeah, but I'm your teacher's teaching assistant, and trust me he'll need me." The class all laughed, I was only half joking, but just as I finished someone cleared their throat from the doorway. I looked over and saw Mr. Boy. He was giving me the stop-talking-bad-about-me look. "And there is the man himself."

"Well hello there class I see you've already met my teaching assistant for the year, Miss Porter, and I hear she's already introduced me. Originally I was known as…" he dove behind his chalk board and jumped back out in a red-white-and blue costume, "All-American Boy, but like Hailey has said, I'm now called Mr. Boy." I leaned up against his desk and laughed slightly. He glared at me so I quickly shut up. He proceeded to tell everyone how he had worked along side the Commander, humorously enough the Commander had failed to ever tell his only son about his sidekick. Just as Mr. Boy was reminiscing about his pathetic crush on Will's mom there was a sudden jolt and the lights went out. An eerie glow illuminated towards the back of the room.

"Oh look, he actually glows," Magenta pointed out. We all sort of laughed. Mr. Medulla came into the room to apologize.

"Mr. Medulla, we in hero support are taught never to panic!" Mr. Boy said bravely. Mr. Medulla looked at me confused. I pointed up. Mr. Boy was clinging to the air duct. I moved to the side as he fell. We all laughed as he attempted to remove the garbage can from his head.

"Okay, I'll go get the nurse, unless she's injured," Mr. Medulla said. I laughed. For the rest of the period I let the students do what they wanted. Mr. Boy was getting checked out and I was in no mood to teach.

After class I walked into the bathroom to fix my hair. Got to look good when you're me. Ha, I liked that. I slipped into a stall to get a piece of toilet paper when I heard Gwen and Penny come in. God those two are so obnoxious, I contemplated not staying. But when I heard the topic of the hour I felt as though I needed to listen. I quieted down and shifted into a cat. I sleekly slipped into the corner of the bathroom.

"I'm telling you, if Will wasn't a sidekick then everything would be perfect," Penny started out.

"Well just give him time, I have a feeling everything is going to go as planned," Gwen replied.

"Either way you'll still have Layla to worry about,"

"Please, she's nothing but a bug under my shoe. Trust me, I'll take care of her," Gwen said. Penny laughed.

"True, she's nothing compared to you." The bell rang, damn that bell. I hate that bell. The girls laughed as they left the bathroom. I changed back into myself. 'Ick, hairball.' I wasn't entirely sure what they were talking about, but it still pissed me off. Whatever, I don't have time right now; I need to get to class. The rest of the day was typical. Well except Lash being a total weirdo. I guess I'll figure that out later. But eventually I got home. Weird, my mom wasn't home. That never happens. I walked in to see Roxy and Baxter snuggling on the recliner in the living room. I threw my bag down and went to grab a snack from the kitchen. _Ringing._ Ah the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hailey?"

"Grandma, hi,"

"How are you honey?"

"Good and how are you?"

"I'm doing alright, you know, hanging in there, hey, not to cut this conversation short but is your mother home?"

"Oh no I'm sorry; I'm not exactly sure where she is,"

"Okay then well will you have her call me whenever you can?"

"Yeah of course, but I'll have to let you go, I have more homework than I can handle,"

"Of course, I went to Sky High once you know! Well I'll let you go, it was nice talking to you, love you sweetie,"

"Love you too grandma," I hung up. I wasn't lying. I had a ton of homework to do. I sighed and figured now was as good a time as any. I grabbed my bag and headed up to my room. After four grueling hours of homework I finally finished. Eight o'clock, I guess I could start heading towards the Paper Lantern, I mean I did say I would meet Warren there are eight thirty. It wouldn't hurt to be early. I grabbed my bag and headed out the door after writing a note to my mother letter her know where I would be. I walked down the street briskly. If I hadn't had to bring my bag I probably would have just changed into a cat and booked it there. I hated walking in the dark alone. It was so creepy. Luckily it was a short walk to the Paper Lantern.

Once I finally arrived they had just turned off their open sign. I walked in and looked around. Warren was clearing off some tables. He immediately noticed my presence. He smiled and waved. I watched as he jogged into the back ditching his tray and apron. There was something about him, something about the way he moved, I didn't quite know what it was, but I was feeling something intense. I wasn't exactly sure what it was. But it'd come to me. It always did. He came up from behind me.

"Hey," he said. I jumped a little, not expecting that. "Sorry did I scare you?"

"No, it's fine," I laughed, I had to, "so you ready for this?" He nodded. We walked to his house which was only about five minutes in the opposite direction from my house. The walk was quick and enjoyable. When we got there he held the door for me as we walked inside. His mother was sitting in the living room in front of the TV.

"Mom, I'm home," he said ducking his head in the dimly lit room.

"Hey Warren sweetie…" she began when she noticed me, "Hailey dear! I haven't seen you in what seems like forever!" She stood up and hugged me. I loved his mom, she was such a sweetheart. There was a time our mothers had been best friends. Unfortunately ever since everything happened with our fathers they couldn't spend very much time together in order to not raise suspicions. It was a shame. "When is your mother going to come see me again?"

"Soon I'm sure; she misses you, she's just you know…" I began. She nodded.

"I understand, tell her to call me when she gets some time,"

"I will," I replied and I would.

"Well we need to work on this project," Warren said. His mom nodded. We walked up the stairs and into Warren's surprisingly clean room. In the corner of the room on a desk sat our model city with our Polly Pocket doll. I laughed a little.

"You'd really think he would have picked a better bad guy," I said. And he could've, then again I can't think of any children's character I'd rather destroy with a heat ray than Polly Pocket, except maybe Barbie. We sat down on his bed and looked at what we had done so far, which was basically nothing. He took off his shirt to change into something not covered in Chinese food grease. I'd never seen Warren shirtless, well with the exception of when we were real little kids, but I hardly thought that compared to what I was starring at now, he was cut, and I mean like, ripped. He put a white shirt on and looked at me. I was stuck in some sort of gaze. He laughed.

"Enjoying the show?" he asked. I shook myself out of it and laughed. There was no redeeming myself, so I guess I'll just make myself look stupider right?

"You know it," I wanted to punch myself. What was wrong with me? I'd known Warren my entire life, and yet some how I'm attracted to him now? There's no way. 'Keep it under control Hailey, cool it.'

"So to be honest I'm not in any mood to be playing with dolls," he said. I nodded.

"I second that," I replied. He laughed and sat next to me on the bed. I suddenly felt jittery and tense. 'What the hell?' I smiled nervously. I had to get a handle on myself. This wasn't normal.

"So can I ask you a question," he said. I nodded. "Why are you with Lash?" That was a good question, and it was good because even I had no idea. I didn't respond at first either. He could tell I was thinking, and thinking hard. "You know, if it's that hard to answer…"

"I don't know, he's really a good guy, I mean, I know a side of him that not many people know," I said finally. He wasn't convinced. I don't blame him, neither was I. "You know, to be honest… and I mean really honest I don't really know anymore."

He nodded. Neither of us said anything for a minute. I looked up at him. He was just starring at me. Studying me it seemed. I think he was going to say something when my phone rang.

"Speak of the devil," it was Lash. I didn't really want to answer it oddly enough. I hit silence and put it back in my purse. He raised an eyebrow.

"You're not going to answer?"

I shrugged. "No, I'm with a friend," I smiled. The jitters had gone. Thank god.

"But you know, a girl like you could do so much better than him, he doesn't even appreciate you,"

"Well maybe not all the time, but a lot…" he starred at me, something about his eyes I couldn't keep lying to myself or him, "well you know, I guess I'm just comfortable with him." What a stupid thing to say. I'm like the queen of stupid tonight. And with someone I've been friends with so long. God, I've got to stop being such a spaz. He just kept starring at me with those piercing eyes. "Okay, let's talk about something else… please." He nodded.

"Right, maybe we should work on our project," he suggested. I smiled.

"Yeah good idea," and we did. For a while, but eventually that got boring. So we decided it was time for me to go home. He offered to walk me home but I kind of just wanted the time to myself to think some more. Besides, I wanted to try and figure out why I was feeling so weird around him.

I got home around ten and wasted no time. _It was bed time. _


	5. Play Times Over

Well of course it's the first week of school. So it's the only week of school where everything seems to move two… maybe even three times faster than the rest of the year. Not that we all don't appreciate it, it just makes the rest of the year seem so slow. I spent the rest of the first week still trying to figure out who stole my boyfriend's soul, why I felt so different around Warren, though it was getting better and of course when I would sprout a few extra inches in height, but that last thing I just had to brush off to the side.

It was Tuesday again. Tuesday mornings suck, they always have. School started off just like any other day. Until of course lunch, which for the first few minutes was okay. I stood with Lash towards the back of the cafeteria. I watched as Speed sped by Ethan and stole his pudding. He stopped on the opposite side of Lash.

"Hey man," Lash greeted him. I just rolled my eyes; I don't think either of them noticed.

"Speed, do you have to be such a jerk?" I asked.

"Hailey, to you have to be such a pain?" Speed replied. I scoffed at him. 'Asshole' I thought. Lash seemed completely oblivious to the hostility being exchanged. He nudged Speed in the side.

"Check this out," he smirked. 'Here it comes, Lash is back!'

"Lash what are you…?" before I had the chance to finish Lash was stretching his arm across the cafeteria and tripped Will. Will fell flat on his face, and that wasn't the worst of it. His tray full of food sprayed all over Warren. I froze. For a split second I think the whole cafeteria froze. Warren stood up and looked at Will with ferocity. I glared at Lash. "Lash what the hell?! Why'd you do that?" Lash looked down at me. He didn't give a shit. I was pissed. To make matters worse Warren had just powered up and was about to fry Will.

"Oh it's on!" Lash exclaimed. I looked up at him. My confusion was taken to a totally new level. It was like he did a complete 180 in two seconds. A fight had begun between Will and Warren. Finally I thought it was over, I figured Will was toast; Warren stood on top of a table and called out the rest of the sidekicks. I was worried. To mine and everyone else's surprises the rest of the sidekicks stood up.

"Leave them alone!" Will's anger rose until he stood up and pushed the table up clear above his head.

"He's strong!" Layla said.

"He's super strong," Gwen added. I starred in amazement. Will had super strength! He threw the table and Warren across the room. The fight continued. As Will was about to throw another punch at Warren Lash reached out and tripped him again.

"Lash! Stop it!" he wasn't paying any attention to me. I sighed and walked out of the lunch room. As the fight continued I ignored it and walked out into the hall. I made my way to my locker and angrily got my books for my next class. I slammed my locker door to see Lash's face.

"Hailey, what was that back there?"

"You're kidding me right?" I asked, was he seriously that clueless?

"Why'd you just leave?"

"Are you stupid?! I asked for one thing! One stupid thing Lash! And you had to completely ignore me! Someone could have been seriously hurt!"

"But babe! Come on, it was funny!" he was a complete idiot; he just kept that dumb smirk on his face.

"You know, I honestly thought you'd changed, but I guess I was wrong, you're still a selfish asshole, you know what, we're over," I paused, did I really just say that? Okay, I guess I did, stick with it Hailey, just walk away. That's just what I did. I walked away. He pursued me, I ignored him. Tears formed in my eyes, but I couldn't let him see that. Warren and Will were being led into the detention room.

"Hailey! Wait up!" Lash jogged after me. Warren saw me, I'm not sure if he saw my tears too, I'd hoped not. I just put my head down and kept walking quickly. It was time for mad science, and thank god I didn't have that class with Lash. He continued following me. I stopped at the door and turned around. If he didn't know I was crying he'd know now. "Hailey please, just let me talk…"

"No Lash, I'm sick of your bullshit, I don't want to hear anything else from you!" I turned around and walked into the classroom, making sure to shut the door on my way in. I parked it in my normal seat and stuffed my face in my hands. I had to pull it together, and I would. I took a deep breath and got myself to relax.

After school I found a nice bench outside of school. A shadow towered over me. I looked up. Warren.

"Can I sit?" he asked. I nodded. He looked over at me. More like starred. Finally I looked at him. "So…"

"So?" I replied. I was trying, but quite honestly I was in the mood for curling up in a ball and crying. Talking wasn't on the top of my to-do-list.

"You alright? I noticed you and Lash having a thing earlier,"

"Yeah well that shouldn't be a problem anymore; I broke up with him,"

"I'm sorry,"

"Yeah well, I'm not, I mean I thought I was, but I guess I'm not," okay, so I lied, but it's not the worst thing I've ever done. I think he knew that too. He liked me too much to say anything though. He put his arm around me. Weird, Warren never did anything like this; Warren doesn't have a soft side. I liked it though, I felt good, safe, and right.

"Well if you need anything I'm here for you," he said. He leaned a little closer. We were close our faces were almost touching. We'd been here before. But this time, it felt intense. I felt weird, light headed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my bus pull up. I stood up quickly.

"Well there's my bus, are we still working on the project tomorrow?" I asked. I needed to kill the feeling. He sighed and stood up. He wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me tight. At first I didn't know what to do. Then as tears came flooding in I wrapped my arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder. He rubbed my back. I had to get out of here, this was just too much. "Thanks," I whispered in his hear as I turned around and ran down to the bus. I climbed on migrated to the back. I slouched down and turned on my Ipod. I'd never needed the sweet sound of Say Anything's 'A walk through hell', like I needed it now. Lash and Speed didn't board the bus, that didn't surprise me. It also didn't disappoint me.

When I got home my mom sat at the kitchen table. She looked straight at me. I couldn't hold it in. She was one of my best friends. I ran up to her and hugged her. I cried into her shoulder.

"What happened honey?" she asked me. I couldn't respond yet. I needed a minute. Finally I took a deep breath.

"Lash and I broke up," I said finally. Tears came flooding more just from saying it. She sighed and hugged my tighter.

"Oh sweetie, I am so sorry," I knew she meant it. I knew she didn't like Lash, but she knew he made me happy, and if someone could make her baby girl happy then they could be alright in her book. After about an hour of me crying on my mother's shoulder I finally decided I just needed some time to go out and take a walk. Just get some fresh air. So that's just what I did. I walked down to the park and sat on a swing and played with the dirt with my sneakers. Again a shadow towered over me. I looked up. It was Layla.

"Hey," she said. I offered a half smile. That was all I could manage.

"Hey Layla, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I was just planting some trees," she replied. She noticed my tears; I was no good at hiding it. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" okay I lied again, I needed to stop lying, and she could tell, "Well not really, I broke up with Lash today." She sat down in the swing next to me.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said. I shrugged.

"Well he had it coming, things hadn't been right for a while, and I guess I just got fed up. I guess anyways, I kind of have a thing for someone else," I didn't want her to know who, so I hoped she didn't ask. But if she knew anything about me, she'd know.

"I kind of saw that, the whole you guys not really being right… I don't know if that makes you feel any better," it did, well not to know that everyone noticed that my boyfriend was horrible to me, but that it truly was justified, the me breaking up with him part. And I needed to hear that. "You know Hailey, you are such an awesome girl, you deserve so much better. The first day of school for must of us sucked, but you just made it a little bit better, and I have to admit that your whole policy about not caring about labels, that was awesome too, I so look up to that." I was so glad to hear her say that. I smiled.

"Thanks, you know, you're a pretty awesome girl too; you actually just made me feel a lot better." I paused, "I'd better get home, it's getting late," it was true. It was late. Not that I didn't want to talk to her. But I was tired.

"Yeah that's true,"

"Hey Layla?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," I said sincerely. We both stood up. I hugged her then we walked home.

I got home and immediately fell into bed. I didn't even cry. Roxy lay up close to my head. She licked the dried tears off my face and snuggled close to me. Just as I was about to fall asleep my phone began vibrating. Lash. I let it go to voicemail. I looked at my messages, 14 voice mails, thirty two missed calls, and about twenty text messages from him. Threw my phone into my dirty clothes hamper and wasted no time falling asleep.


	6. And The Love Goes Round

_Talk about a night from hell._ Okay so to be honest it really wasn't that bad, but today would completely suck. Whatever, I had to do it. Today's getting ready involved a shower, a pair of old blue jeans, and a pink v-neck t-shirt. I threw my hair up in a sloppy pony tail. The walk to the bus stop sucked. I just prayed Lash and Speed weren't there. As I rounded the corner my worst fear came true. They were there. I just pushed myself to go stand there. I walked up. Speed glared at me while Lash stood awkwardly trying not to look at me.

"You have quite…" Speed began. Lash punched his arm.

"Shut up," he murmured. I cleared my throat. The bus pulled up. Thank god! I ran up the steps and found a seat by myself. The bus ride took what seemed like forever. Finally we arrived at Sky High. I rushed off the bus and headed straight into Hero Support Class, anymore awkwardness and I couldn't handle it. Layla walked in and gave me a hug immediately. I smiled. That felt good. Zach came up behind her and gave me a hug too. I laughed.

"What was that for?" I asked him.

"I don't know, I just thought since Layla gave you one I would too," he was funny, and a total sweetheart.

"Well thank you, I appreciated that," I did too; it felt good to have a bunch of people caring about me. As soon as Will walked in Mr. Boy redirected him to his new class, the hero class, and of course he wasn't crazy about leaving. I didn't blame him, but he didn't have a choice.

Come lunch time I walked into the cafeteria to see something strange, Will was sitting with Gwen and Penny, while the rest of his friends were sitting at a separate table. I went and accompanied them.

"So why's Will not over here today?" I had to ask, I had no clue what was going on…

"There's no room for us at the hero table," Ethan explained. Oops, I didn't mean to rub salt in the wound.

"Yeah well screw them," I said with a smile, and honestly, I meant it. They were so full of bullshit. Magenta smiled.

"Right on!" she said. I liked her. She was like a slightly less chipper version of me.

"Well seriously, whatever, they're so lame," I added. Layla smiled at me.

"So you seem to be doing much better today," I nodded. I was much better, now that I was with friends. Not to say I wasn't crazy missing Lash, but I was hanging in there.

"Yeah, you've all been a huge help," I replied. Everyone minus Layla looked completely confused, I guess they hadn't heard. Then again when you're like me and Lash, we don't exactly involve a lot of people in our personal lives. The only people I'd told were my mom, Layla, and Warren. I can almost guarantee Speed was the only one Lash had told. People would find out, but I guess the freshman sidekicks had no way of finding out. "Lash and I broke up," I announced to the confused looking group. They all looked so sympathetic.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry," Magenta said. I shrugged.

"It's whatever," I replied, I couldn't care right now. All I was trying to do was forget. The bell rang, I was actually happy that lunch was over today. I really did not want to share my feelings about Lash anymore. I stopped at my locker briefly before going to Mad Science. Right as I was about to shut my locker Lash came up.

"Hailey, please…" I starred into his eyes for only a brief second, that's all I knew I could handle with out completely caving.

"I just don't really want to…" I didn't get the chance to finish; Warren walked up and stopped me mid-sentence.

"Better get going otherwise we're going to be late for Mad Science Hailey,"

"Peace, will you stay out of this, I'm trying to talk to my…"

"Your what? She's not your girlfriend anymore Lash,"

"Guys, stop just please stop!" I couldn't take this. "Lash, just…no," I didn't have the words to say, "Warren let's just go to class." I grabbed Warren's sleeve and led him to our classroom. We sat down at our table; all I wanted to do was bury myself in my book. Warren looked at me.

"Hailey, I'm…" I glared at him. He knew just to stop it there. I was in no mood to be dealing with the battle of the boys right now. The last thing I needed was a fight to break out over me.

"Let's just do our work mmkay?" I suggested. Warren nodded in agreement.

In the halls after class I walked into an argument between Zach, Speed, Lash, Ethan, and Will, it ended in Lash and Speed challenging Will to a game of save the citizen in gym class. That should be interesting. I guess I shouldn't waste anytime getting there. I walked with Layla and Magenta into the locker room as we got changed into our gym outfits. I planned on sitting with them when I saw Warren sitting by himself as usual. I did kind of want to talk to him. So I climbed up and sat next to him. He looked at me.

"Feeling any better?" he asked. He looked angry. I wasn't sure why.

"Yeah, and what's your deal?" I didn't mean to provoke him, but quite honestly I saw no reason for him to be upset with me.

"My deal is that guy deserves to have his head ripped off, and you won't let me get a word in edgewise to him," Oh god, Warren's crazy too. It must be a condition at this school.

"Well Warren, did it ever occur to you that I don't feel like a huge deal being made over me and this stupid break up that just happened yesterday! I'm just trying to move on! It's not easy when I have everyone around me reminding me of it," he looked sorry, he'd better be.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to," he seemed sincere. I believed him. I smiled a little and gave him a little side hug which he greatly returned. It was just then I noticed Lash had been starring at us the whole time. I should have figured he would be.

"…and Peace," Lash said pointing to Warren. I looked around. 'And Peace what?' I wondered. Oh crap. Warren's getting up. Warren and Will were taking on Lash and Speed. This could be hazardous. I stood up and moved over with Layla and Magenta. They looked at me with concern.

"Someone's going to die…" I said.

"Naw it'll be fine," Layla tried to comfort me, but I think she was just as convinced as me, which wasn't at all. It started out pretty badly, until Warren torched Lash, which I know he loved. Then Will tied Lash up. Speed was cutting off Warren's oxygen when Will came up and grabbed him slamming him into the pole where Lash was tied up. At the last second they saved the citizen. A big congratulation was given to Will as Lash and Speed hit the showers. A freshman had never won saved the citizen before, plus Lash and Speed were undefeated. Warren walked up to me and hugged me.

"Great job!" I said with a smile. He gave me a slight smile in return. He was trying to act like he didn't care. I smiled and poke his stomach. "Ooo Warren's proud of himself and he doesn't want to admit it!" I liked making fun of him. He put his hands on my arms and moved me aside.

"See you tonight Hailey," he said as he waved goodbye. I ran up behind him and gave him one more hug. He just laughed and kept walking. He hated it when I teased him in front of people. That was the last thing he wanted to be seen as in front of people; vulnerable.

The rest of my day wasn't too horrible. I went home and spent some quality time with my mom, finished all of my homework, and had some much needed quality time with Roxy. After a while I sat down at my vanity in my bedroom and took the picture of me and Lash at homecoming last year from my mirror. I starred at it for a good five minutes. I wanted to tear it up so bad, but so many parts of me didn't want to give up on him. Instead of ripping it apart I tucked it into one of my drawers. I looked at my clock and noticed it was a quarter to nine. I needed to get going to meet up with Warren at the Paper Lantern so we could work on our project.

He had all of the stuff so luckily I could just power up into a cat and sprint there. I did. As I cat I was a yellow tabby, shorthaired, oddly enough. I sprinted down the street. Crap, the Anderson's left their dog out again. I was chased two blocks down the street by a brown and white pit bull. I can't stand it when they leave their dog out. Of course even if it got a hold of me I'd slam that dog into their perfectly painted white picket fence. Wow, that was a mouth full. Car! I dove behind a row of bushes and powered back into myself. I straightened my clothes and hair and walked inside. They were almost closing and there was hardly anyone there. I didn't see Warren anywhere as I scanned the room. With no luck of finding him I caught a glance of a familiar face sitting alone in a booth. I walked up.

"Layla?"

"Hailey! What are you doing here?"

"Meeting Warren to work on a project, I could as you the same question, what brings to you the Paper Lantern so late and so alone?" So that sounded a bit creepy.

"Well I was supposed to be meeting Will here… but I guess he forgot," What a jerk, that didn't really sound like Will, I mean I didn't really know him that well. A familiar voice came up from behind me.

"Hey," Layla said. I turned around and smiled up at Warren. He looked down and seemed surprised to see me.

"Hey there stud," I joked. He laughed a little then looked at Layla.

"You want me to heat that up for you?" he asked. She looked at me then back to him with concern.

"You're not supposed to use your powers outside of school," she whispered. He leaned in closer to the table.

"I was just going to put it in the microwave," he said quietly with a smirk on his face. I didn't know if they even knew each other. Introductions were in order I believed.

"By the way Warren, this is Layla,"

"It's a pleasure," he said.

"Why don't you sit down for a while," I asked. Maybe a guy's perspective would help Layla a little bit with her Will problem. Warren looked around.

"I don't know if you ever want me too get off," he began.

"Come on tough guy… I can wait an extra ten minutes if it means you sit down for a few," encouraged him. He smiled and shrugged.

"I guess I could spare a few," he sat down next to me.

"So Layla was just telling me how she was supposed to meet Will here, and evidentially he got a little held up," I hinted at him for some advice. Warren was definitely smart enough to catch on without me actually having to ask, wasn't he?

"That kid's such a tool," he said. I laughed a little. A little bit more constructive advice would probably be more useful. Layla ended up telling us about Will and Layla's friendship starting from age zero. After a full layout of their friendship Warren and I looked at each other. "And falling for him… was that before or after the lima beans?" Warren asked. I had to laugh a little.

"Are you kidding I am NOT in love with Will Strongh…" she paused and her face got all pathetic, "is it that obvious?" She asked. Warren and I looked at each other and nodded. It was kind of funny. Half the stuff she was saying and I had just said about Will, if I sat down and told somebody the story of Warren and my friendship growing up they would probably think the same thing. Although they wouldn't be right like we were about Layla… or would they. Was it completely possible that I was falling for Warren, or maybe I even fell for him a long time ago, and it's just starting to come out? Doesn't matter, back to Layla.

"Yeah," Warren said. I nodded in agreement. She sighed.

"So what do you guys think I should do?" she asked us. I didn't know. I was pretty much in the same boat and I sucked at handling it.

"You know what I think?" Warren began I was surprised, Warren actually had an idea. "To let true love remain unspoken is the quickest route to a heavy heart." Layla and I looked at him both surprised.

"Wow… that was really deep," she said. He smirked.

"Yeah… _and_ your lucky numbers are… 4, 16, 5… and 49," he read off a fortune cookie. I had to laugh, that was clever. An Asian woman began yelling from the back. Warren yelled something back to her and looked as us. "I gotta go finish up; I should be done in a few." I nodded. Layla smiled at me.

"Layla you should just tell him, ask him to home coming, what's the worst that could happen?" I asked. I mean, I knew the answer to that, and the worst thing that could happen did seem pretty brutal.

"You know, maybe you're right," of course I was right, I always was. "Well I need to get home." She began to gather her things and stand up.

"Layla, how about Friday you and I have a girl's night. We can go shopping for homecoming then have a slumber party at my house and just watch movies?" I offered. I wanted to. I hadn't had a slumber party in forever. I thought Layla and I could both use it anyways. She nodded and smiled kind of shyly.

"That would be awesome! I'll see you tomorrow at school!"

Shortly after Layla had left Warren came up and tapped me on the shoulder.

"You ready to go?" he asked. Boy was I. We walked over to Warren's house and walked into the pitched blackness. I was confused, I actually felt like I was in a horror movie.

"Umm Warren? Are you planning on turning a light on or something?" I asked. He snapped his fingers and provided us with a small flame. I cocked my head to the side and raised and eyebrow. "We've given up on lights?"

"Shh, my mom's sleeping in the living room, if I turn the light on she'll wake up," he explained. I nodded and crept up the stairs. We entered his room and flipped the light on. "That better?"

"Much thank you," I replied. To be honest I was not in the mood to work on the project. I was getting the feeling that neither was he. But unfortunately neither of us had a choice; we had a lot of work to do if we wanted to finish by Friday. After a couple of hours of goofing off and attempting to finish our project I decided I needed to get home. I really did, it was super late and I really needed to get some sleep. He offered to walk me home, I was going to turn it down, but something made me say yes.

For some reason I decided to walk slowly. I wanted to take as much time as I could to get home. The whole way home we joked about how things were when we were kids. When we reached my front porch I stopped and turned around.

"Thanks for walking me home," this was weird again. I felt like we were in a movie, only instead of a horror movie it was one of those teen drama movies. Here I was standing in front of my front door with my life long friend, only my feelings for him have changed, and all I can think about is how much I would like to just wrap my arms around him and kiss him. Wait what!? Did I honestly just think that?! No, so not. Okay Hailey pull it together.

"Yeah it was no problem," he replied. We stood awkwardly for a moment. Friends don't do awkward, well I guess we did. Now at least we do. "So um, I have a question I've wanted to ask you." Question? What question? Okay, just let him ask.

"Shoot,"

"I know that you just broke up with Lash and everything…" Oh my god, was he asking me out? "But I was thinking, well wondering if you'd want to go to homecoming with me. I mean, I wasn't going to go but I thought it might be fun and help…" I stopped him.

"I'd love to," He smiled at me. He leaned down and grabbed my hand. Then he kissed my cheek.

"Have a good night Hailey," he turned around and walked back down the sidewalk. I smiled and watched him. The words wouldn't come to me. I turned around and went inside. I think tonight was the most amazing night of my life. Well at least lately. Good nights sleep ahead.


	7. Admit It, You love him

Thursday, which means only two days until the weekend, and homecoming

Thursday, which means only two days until the weekend, and homecoming. Can't wait, oops, I lied, I could. Not that I didn't want to go, it's just that with all the drama that's happened lately I wasn't looking forward to it. I got to the lunch room early, no Layla, but ah Warren. I sat down next to him. He looked at me.

"You're sitting with me?" he asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, is that a problem?" I know he usually sits alone, but I'd like to think my company is worthy of sitting with him at lunch. He looked surprised.

"No, I just usually sit alone," well everyone knew that, but I didn't care.

"Well if you want me to go sit elsewhere… or hey! I could go sit at the end of the table so it doesn't look like we're sitting together!" I joked. He laughed a little.

"It's fine, just stay,"

"Are you sure? I mean… if you don't want…"

"Hailey!"

"Say you want me!" I demanded while laughing.

"I want you!" he finally said. I laughed.

"Ooo! Warren wants me!" I joked. He glared at me while attempting to hold back a smile. He shook his head and kept writing in his notebook. I kept a smirk on my face. Layla came up and sat down.

"Hey guys," she said. "So I have a funny story to tell you." I love funny stories!

"I love funny stories!" Told you. I could tell Warren didn't care but he was going to listen.

"So I was getting ready to do just what you told me to Hailey, you know talking to Will, and well turns out… instead I ended up telling him I was going to homecoming with Warren," she laughed awkwardly and looked at us with a pleading look. 'Well Hailey, time to be the nice girl' I thought. I didn't like what I had just heard. But here it goes. I looked over at Warren who was starring at me. I paused. Before I got the chance to talk, Warren spoke up, shoot.

"Well there might be a problem with that…" he began.

"Please Warren, I swear I'll make this as painless as possible," she pleaded. Man, this is sad. Magenta came up and sat down Warren was getting more aggravated at the crowd turning up.

"Hey, Layla, you did the history homework?" she asked.

"What are you doing?" Warren fumed.

"It's called sitting." She replied. I chuckled. Warren glared at me.

"No one sits here but me,"

"And me!" I added in, he ignored me.

"Mmhmm," Magenta replied, she turned back to Layla to finish asking about their homework. "What'd you get for number four? I wasn't sure if Tigerman was, A: bitten by a radioactive tiger, or B: bitten by a regular tiger, then exposed to radiation." Ethan came up and sat on the other side of Warren.

"Hey. We're eating at Warren's table now? I feel extremely dangerous,"

"Whoa! Whoa!" Warren was getting anxious. I thought it was funny, was he seriously that weird around people? We'd soon find out I'm sure, Zach came up and sat down next to me.

"This guy bothering you, Magenta?" he pointed across me to Warren.

"Try the other way around," Warren said through his teeth. I turned around to see Will and Gwen walking past us. Layla broke out into an obnoxious laugh. "Warren you're so hilarious!" Will turned around but was continued to get drug forward by Gwen. I looked at Layla then over to Warren.

"Well there's still a problem," he said. Layla looked distraught.

"What?" she asked. Warren looked at me.

"I already have a date," he replied. Layla looked defeated. I felt for her. I knew what it was like. I thought back to Jr. High when I was small and scraggly and no one paid attention to me. I blended in very well back then. I was plain, and then something happened when I turned fourteen. I had developed my powers when I was younger, so I knew that had nothing to do with it. But I guess something just happened, maybe I learned what a hair brush was and how to use it, maybe I found out that baggy sweat pants and clothes that were three times my size, weren't the thing to wear. Even though I knew that with Layla that wasn't the case, it just so happened that the guy she wanted was turning into a total jerk, and was dating the biggest bitch Sky High had ever known, not even just Sky High, the whole world (or so I thought). Layla was stuck, she couldn't respond.

"You know Warren, if it's okay with you, I think you two should go together, I mean it's for a good cause," sounds like charity, "and we can always dance together and stuff." I didn't want to go stag, but Layla needed this more than I did.

"Oh gosh, Hailey, no I'm sorry, forget about it, I'll just…"

"Layla, don't worry about it," I smiled with sympathy in my eyes. Warren sighed.

"So you're just doing this just to get back at Stronghold? Not because you like me or anything?" Warren asked. Layla nodded.

"Yeah…" she said wide eyed. He looked at me, then back to Layla and smiled.

"Then I'm in," he paused as he grabbed his bag, "but I'm not renting a tux." He stood up and walked away.

"So if Warren's not sitting here anymore is this still the tough guy table?" Ethan asked. I laughed, he was so awkwardly cute.

"Well I need to get going but you kids enjoy the rest of your lunch," I smiled Layla stood up as I walked away. She grabbed my arm.

"Hailey, please just let me know if this isn't cool with you," she said. It wasn't, but I would never tell her that. I mean it was, but at the same time, I wanted to go with Warren, well of course I did, otherwise I wouldn't have said yes in the first place, but that's beyond the point. I'm rambling; I'm doing this for Layla, not for myself. I forced a smile.

­"Layla, it's fine, I promise," I promised. It was fine, that's what I told myself at least. "I'll see you later Layla." I walked out of the cafeteria. I felt like it would be a long rest of the day. And I was right.

The rest of the day sort of drug by, I was feeling pretty blank. Finally it was the end of the day. I rode the bus and drug my feet on the way home. Things had been pretty shady lately, although I would admit the most resent set back I had allowed to happen. I walked in the kitchen door, Roxy and Baxter came running, tails wagging, to greet me. I smiled and in a very high pitched voice greeted them. I picked them both up and received all of my welcome home kisses.

"Hailey, is that you?" My mom asked from the living room.

"No it's the Schwan man!" who else could it be? It's not like we had anyone else that lived here. I put Baxter down and allowed him to run into the living room. I held on to Roxy with one arm and followed Baxter. I was surprised to see my mom wasn't alone; Warren was sitting opposite to her on the love seat. I almost dropped Roxy. She was still trying to lick my face off so I put her down only to have her attempting to climb my leg.

"Hey Warren… wha… what are you doing here?"

"Well I stopped by to say hi, and your mom said you should be home soon, so I decided to just hang out with her for a while," he came all the way here to say hi? Weird. Okay then, time to ditch mom.

"Okay, well you wanna go upstairs or something?" I asked. Mom smiled at me, she liked Warren, she always had. He nodded and stood up.

"Thanks Ms. Porter," we walked up the stairs and into my room. Time to get down to the bottom of why he was really here. After I shut the door I turned around and faced him.

"So why are you really here Warren?" I asked. He took a step towards me. I tensed up. Here I go again. I was jittery. "Sit." I pointed. He listened. Hmm, that was fancy. I sat down next to him on the bed while keeping my distance. He scooted closer.

Dang, I'm trapped, no where to go. Okay just cool it.

"I just wanted to talk to you about earlier," he said. Okay, this is starting out completely non-threatening. I nodded. "I mean, you know I want to go with you, but you seemed cool with the whole Layla thing earlier, then again I know you wouldn't have said anything in front of them, and I'm not entirely sure you'll even say anything to me… that is if it's not okay with you." It was, but at the same time it wasn't. I think he knew that though. He just needed to hear it from me.

"Well Warren, you obviously know I want to go with you, but Layla is my friend, and she does need our help," he nodded. He scooted a little closer and grabbed my hand. I cleared my throat. Why was I so nervous? He's been my best friend for years, so nothings changed. Well something has changed.

"We can make it up some time," he suggested.

"Yeah, yeah that sounds great," It did. I was just nervous I kind of wanted to get got out of here. Why did this have to be so weird? Okay I had to say something to him. "Okay is this weird to you?" he looked confused. Of course he was I'm crazy.

"Does what seem weird?"

"This, I mean, the way we've been lately, not like friends more like… I think… I might…" he cut me off.

"Hailey I like you," Okay. I know. But… or did he mean…

"Well I like you too, you know that…"

"No I mean I really…" I stood up. He did. He liked me! Well I liked him too, but I can't. We're friends! That's it!

"I gotta go," Where? This was my house… dumb shit.

"Hailey!" he stood up and in one long stride was in front of me. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." Oh great. Now he felt bad. I looked up at him slowly.

"Warren, I… I…" I was lost for words. So I did what I felt would be the easiest at the time. I hugged him and buried my face in his chest. Tears started to fall. "It's just too soon for me." So I thought. I didn't know, I mean, I knew I had fallen for Warren, I'd fallen hard, but I needed some more time to process it.

"And I'd stand there like a soldier with my foot upon his chest," Warren recited some of the lyrics 'A Walk Through Hell' by Say Anything. I smiled and laughed.

"With my grin spread, and my arms out, in my blood stained Sunday's best," I sang, Warren didn't sing but it was the thought that counts. He smiled.

"And you'd hold me, I'd remind you, who you are… under their shell." He finished and brushed the tears off my face. "Movie time?" he asked. I smiled and grabbed a DVD case from my desk.

"Madagascar?" he sighed. There was nothing like making a guy who had a soft spot for me watch cartoons.

"You'll owe me big," he replied with a smirk.

"I'll think of something," and I would, eventually. But right now… let the torturing ensue.


	8. Its a Date

Friday night couldn't have come soon enough. Layla and I sat on my bed watching Never Been Kissed and playing monkey in the middle with Roxy. It was a relief to have quality time with a girl for once as opposed to the guys I usually hang out with. Roxy finally caught her small stuffed rag doll and happily took it to her bed in the corner of my room. Layla smiled and laughed.

"I love your dog,"

"Thanks, she's a treat," everyone loved Roxy, she was a total sweetheart, and not to mention she was probably the cutest dog on the planet earth. Layla shifted her weight towards me and smiled.

"So you pretty much know everything there is to know about me and… well the non-existent love between Will and I, but what about you?" She would ask wouldn't she? Well she'd spilled her guts to me; I guess it was my turn. I sighed and smiled.

"Well Warren and I have been friends since we were little kids, I'm sure you've heard of his dad Barron Battle?" she nodded, "Well my dad Daniel Porter, otherwise known as Physkill, yeah I know, clever right, Psycho… Physkill… whatever, they were best friends, partners in crime if you will. Warren and his dad were always really close, but since we were so young, neither of us really knew what our dads did. Long story short when Will's dad put our dad's away Warren blamed everything on the Stronghold family; I on the other hand just blamed everything on my dad, who definitely was rightfully at fault. As we grew up we just kind of stayed friends, but as we got older and started high school… I fell for a kid named Lash, as you well know. After that Warren and I didn't get to spend as much time together," I hoped I wasn't boring her, but I guess she did ask.

"So do you like Warren?" she asked, she was full of questions. Of course I had to smile slightly.

"I guess… I mean…"

"You either do… or…"

"I do! Of course I do, how could I not?" Easily… well not for me.

"You must know a different side of him," she said. I laughed. True enough. I looked at her with a smirk on my face.

"You wanna go for a walk?" I loved walking, it felt good, and it helped make awkward silences less awkward, not that there had been any between me and Layla all night.

"Yeah, that would be awesome," I was glad. Finally a fellow woman that shared my love for the outdoors and walking. We walked down the street continuing in mindless chatter. As we turned the corner onto a new block we heard loud bumping music. Two houses down there was a rowdy party taking place. I raised my eyebrow 'how lame'. As we drew closer Layla stopped and looked at me.

"What?" I asked.

"That's Will's house," she said. That was Will's house, well I'm not snob but you'd think the Commander and Jetstream would live in some huge amazing house, not that it wasn't nice, but it just wasn't any different then normal peoples. Wait what am I thinking? Technically they are normal, just like me. I'm starting to sound like a citizen.

"Let's go," good idea, crash it.

"I… I don't know Hailey…" looks like she needs some convincing.

"Layla, what is the worst that could happen?" A lot of worst could happen, but whatever, what's life with out a little risk? I grabbed her hand and led her up the front steps and right in the front door. _Great, a hero party._ I'd been to my share; chances were this wouldn't end well. We got our share of dirty looks as we weaved our way through the crowd. Layla looked at me.

"I'm going to try and find Will," she told me. I nodded, although I wasn't completely convinced that she would want to find Will given the state he was most likely in. I wondered if Lash was here. Of course he was, this was a hero party, and I doubt he would ever not show up to one. I looked around. Bingo. I did kind of want to talk to him. I moseyed over to him slowly. He was talking to Speed in the corner of the living room. I cleared my throat to make my presence known. Speed glared at me, Lash glanced over at him.

"Dude…" Speed glared at him.

"Really? You're blowing me off for her?" he asked. Lash nodded. Speed walked away angrily. I smiled awkwardly. Neither of us said anything for a minute.

"Do you want to go some where to talk?" he asked. I nodded. We walked up the stairs and into Will's room. Ha, cute. He closed the door behind them and looked at me. "Hailey, I've wanted to talk to you for the past couple of days." I nodded, well duh he did. "I'm really sorry about everything that happened, I was a total jerk and just didn't even think about how you were feeling."

"Ya think?" I replied. Sarcasm probably wouldn't be too helpful at the time.

"Listen, do you think maybe we could just start over or something? You deserve to be treated better than this," Of course I did, I'm a pretty good person, or at least I like to think I am. I was very skeptical about giving him another chance. He stepped forward and grabbed my hand. I wanted to pull away, everything in my body told me too. But surprisingly I didn't. "Will you go to homecoming with me?" he asked. Well I already… wait no, I'm dateless. I guess going with him to homecoming was pretty non-threatening, but I should probably at least make it clear to him that this doesn't mean we're getting back together… okay.

I nodded; "Sure," I smiled. Relief flooded into his face.

"Really?" he asked. Well don't make me think twice about it.

"Don't make me change my mind now. But just to make this clear, we're not getting back together, we're just going to homecoming," I clarified. He nodded.

"Well I guess now that's all I can even expect right?" he asked. Yeah, that was all he could ask right now. We stood there awkwardly for a moment. 'What now?' I thought. I looked up at him and smiled. He leaned down and kissed me. I wanted to pull back, but again, didn't happen. The bad part was I liked this, I was enjoying this. Not good. Despite everything in my brain telling me to stop I couldn't. I still loved him. It would take more than some stupid fight to change that for sure. Speaking of fight, I wonder how Layla… I jumped back.

"Crap! Layla!" I yelled. He raised an eyebrow.

"What about her?"

"I came with her… they're probably going to tear her up, as much as I hate to break this up I gotta go," I was about to book it out the door when I turned around and kissed him one last time. I ran out the door to see everyone frozen. The Commander and Jetstream were home. Not good. Lash had gone ahead of me. I didn't want the Commander to see me, he knew who I was. It might look a little shady for me to be here. I shifted into a cat and bolted back into Will's room, I've gotta figure something out… window? No, I'd have no way of getting off the roof. Well I could climb down a tree… too late. Will walked into the room. I dove under the bed. How long would I possibly have to wait? Could be too long, I didn't want Layla thinking I was blowing her off. I gotta take a chance. I crept from under the bed and tried sneaking to the door. Almost there…

"Hey kitty," damn. I'm caught. Will walked over to me and picked me up. He set me on his lap and started petting me. I looked up at him.

"Okay buddy, watch your hands," he jumped and threw me onto the ground. I shifted back to myself. I stood up while brushing myself off. "Geez Will, you could have been a tiny bit gentler." He starred at me petrified.

"Hailey, what are you doing in my room?!"

"Lash and I…"

"Oh god!" he began stripping his bed sheets. I walked over and grabbed his arms and sat him down.

"…were talking, now I gotta get out of your house."

"When did you even get here?" he asked.

"I came with Layla," Oh god Layla… I was proving to be quite the awesome friend.

"Layla… oh great, well she's long gone by now,"

"Why?" Oh great… my worst fear happened…

"Gwen…"

"What'd your stupid girlfriend do? I'm going to kick her ass!" I was pissed. I knew it was just in her nature to be a bitch… but I still wouldn't tolerate her.

"She really didn't have to do anything, I've been such a total jerk lately Layla probably would have started to hate me anyways,"

"Yeah, Will, you're an idiot. Layla's so into you. I can't believe you never noticed,"

"Well, she definitely hates me now," I don't blame her…

"And because of you I lost my homecoming date,"

"Well you're sure doing a good job of making me feel better,"

"Helping you isn't exactly on the top of my to-do list right now,"

"Go figure, who were you going to homecoming with?"

"Warren,"

"So how did I take him from you?"

"Cause... Layla told you she was going with him, not knowing he'd already asked me… she just wanted to make you jealous,"

"Yeah well it doesn't matter now because I'm not going,"

"Yes, you are! You have to! You have to because otherwise I lost my date and agreed to go with my asshole ex for no reason!"

"No, I'm not, now do you want help getting out of my house or what?" He wasn't up for an argument. Right now, his word was law, because like it or not I needed to get out of this house.

"Fine, get me out of here," he stood up as I shifted back into a cat, "but I'm still mad at you." He glared at me and picked me up.

"That's fine,"


	9. Author's Note

**AN:**

**Thank you to everyone who has been reading. Weekends are super busy for me, hence why I don't have time to put up new chapters on the weekends. I haven't been getting very many reviews, so if you do happen to be reading and just haven't been reviewing, if you could just take a few minutes to drop me a line or two just so I know what people think of it please do so. Thanks very much everyone! A new chapter will be up shortly!**


	10. Not Exactly a Picture Perfect Evening

After Will dropped me outside I sprinted back towards my house hoping that Layla had headed that way. Luckily enough she did. She was sitting on the curb outside my house with her head in her lap. I walked up to her and rubbed up against her. She looked at me confused for a moment. I sat down next to her and shifted back to myself.

"Hey Hailey," she gave me a weak smile; she didn't even seem in the least bit angry. She sounded more relieved than anything.

"Hey, so you want to tell me what happened back there?" she shrugged. I highly doubted she did.

"Just Gwen being herself and Will being… someone else," she was devastated. I didn't know whether I should tell her about him and me talking. I didn't want any suspicions being raised. If I was going to be a good friend to her I was going to have to be honest, and tell her everything.

"Well he knows he was being an idiot now and he broke up with Gwen,"

"How do you know?"

"Cause I talked to him, he's not even going to the dance now," Okay… don't be mad.

"When did you talk to him?"

"His parents got home and I spooked. I shifted into a cat and jumped into his room," okay hurry up with this it's not starting so good. "I was looking for a way out when Will came upstairs. I told him he was an idiot, and then he snuck me out." She laughed a little.

"Why's that funny?"  
"Just the way you put it," I guess it was a little funny. I smiled and looked at her.

"You want to go inside?" she nodded.

"Yeah," We went inside and got ready for bed. We slept side by side on my bed. We fell asleep shortly after laying down. Homecoming was tomorrow, which meant it was a long yet fun day ahead of us.

After waking up around nine thirty we got ready to go do some shopping, neither of us had gotten our dresses or anything else yet. We got ourselves ready and headed to the nearest mall. She ended up purchasing a long flowing green halter top dress. I myself found a knee length in the front full length in the back pink spaghetti strap dress. We spent the rest of the time we had picking out accessories and eating. Soon it came time to go home and get ready. We sat up in my room helping each other with our hair and talking.

"So I'm still really feeling badly about the whole Warren thing," Layla said. I shrugged as I applied some mascara.

"Whatever, besides I actually got a new date," she looked surprised. To be honest I was still a little surprised.

"Really? Who… and when?" she asked. Oh great here it goes… 'Sorry I blew you off last night and let you get humiliated by Gwen while I sat upstairs and made out with my ex,' okay… no, I'm crazy.

"Lash, and last night…"I said awkwardly.

"Ugh, Lash?!" well I guess I'd rather her be disappointed in me for who I'm going with than the fact that I was with him instead of her.

"Yeah well I made it clear to him we're not getting back together," she cocked her head sideways and raised an eyebrow. I didn't think she was buying it.

"And I'm going to be there the whole night making sure that you don't do anything stupid," I laughed nervously… like what? Hook up with him? "Oh my god! You already did!"

"Well that depends what you mean by stupid,"

"Well… like hooking up with him!" Oh crap. I laughed even more nervously. "Hailey! You didn't!" Now maybe she'd be upset about last night. I nodded. "What does it matter now if you're not getting back with him or not if you already gave it up to him?" Or not. I was beginning to like this girl more and more every minute.

"Okay you're making it seem like I slept with him…"

"You didn't… did you?" I glared at her.

"No! Of course not!" Not that I would have denied him given the chance. Wow, I'm horrible.

"Alright, well just make sure you watch yourself,"

I nodded, "make sure you watch me." She laughed. We finished getting ready, and off to the dance it was.

The gym was shining with decorations, although I hated 99% of the homecoming committee I had to admit I was impressed with their taste. Layla and I scanned the crowd for our group. Just as we were about to walk up to them Lash came up from behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around.

"Hey," he was wearing a typical long sleeved white and black striped shirt with a white vest over it. I raised an eyebrow and looked at him skeptically. "I can see you really stepped out of your comfort zone and dressed up."

Layla turned around obviously just noticing his presence. "Oh hey."

"Hey," he replied with a weak smile. Well… he was trying.

"Lash, this is Layla, Layla, Lash," they smiled at each other.

"You two look really nice," he complimented. We both smiled.

"Thanks, we know," I displayed my arrogance. Layla laughed. We walked up to Magenta, Zach, and Ethan who were standing by the refreshment table. Ethan froze when he saw Lash.

"Okay, if you're going to dunk my head in the toilet will you at least get it over with now?" he pleaded. Lash looked at me, I laughed a little.

"Relax Ethan, he's not here to dunk your head, he's my date," Ethan looked confused. Magenta looked at me, then Lash, then Layla. I knew in her head she was thinking about screaming some sense into me.

"Yeah, I'm not going to do any of that crap tonight," Lash added. I looked up at him.

"You know Lash, they might not be that afraid of you if you didn't harass them all year," I told him. Everyone laughed.

"Well you know Lash, you don't have to feel bad, all the guys at this school are jerks," Layla pitched in.

"Well thanks," we heard a voice say from behind us. Warren was standing there, hair combed (for probably the first time ever), wearing a tux.

"Warren, I thought you said you weren't going to rent a tux," Layla said. He shrugged.

"It's my dad's, he doesn't have a lot of use for it in solitary," he replied. Everyone laughed a little; the sad part is it was true. He glanced shyly over at me. I noticed him glance over at me then he finally noticed Lash. He looked confused but just smiled at me. Lash looked over at him and smiled. He offered his hand.

"Hey man, how's it going?" he asked. I was shocked that Lash was making the attempt. Maybe things will change. Warren looked down at Lash's hand and then over to me. I raised an eyebrow and smirked. He shook Lash's hand firmly and looked him in the eye. I half expected him to spark up and fry Lash. Surprisingly he forced a smile.

"Not a whole lot," Warren glanced back at me. I smiled slightly then shyly looked down. A slow song began playing; Lash grabbed my hand and pulled me out to the dance floor. Warren, Layla, Magenta, Ethan, and Zach moved their way to the edge of the room. I guess none of them felt like dancing. I glanced over at Warren who was starring at me and Lash. I pretended not to notice. I was just waiting for Lash and I to get torched. Lash looked down at me. His arms were wrapped around me and his hands resting on my hips. I had my arms wrapped around his neck as I twirled the tips of his hair around my finger like I had always loved to do. He smiled down at me and gazed into my eyes. I hated that, because no matter what I felt warm and safe, and even loved with him.

"So I'm really glad you said yes," he said to me.

"Well, you know, I can't say I didn't miss you," Wow, why did I just say that. So much for acting like I didn't want to be with him. Whatever, I can't change what I just said.

"You did?" 'No, I've secretly hated you this whole time idiot.' I thought. I smiled a little.

"Of course," I replied. He starred at me. I looked at him and smirked. He leaned down to kiss me. I turned my head so his lips landed on my cheek. He looked at me and laughed nervously. He leaned in to kiss me again. I backed up and pushed him away gently. What was coming over me, suddenly I didn't want him. I wasn't complaining it was a really liberating feeling, but still, it's so not how I expected myself to react. What made right now different from last night at the party? Could it be that Warren's here? That was it! It had to be. "Lash I… I can't…"

"Hailey but, last night, I thought, Hailey, I love you," What was happening to me. I felt sick. I had to get out of here.

"I… I gotta go…" I left the gym holding tears back. I leaned up against the wall and breathed deeply into my hands. I felt someone hovering over me. I looked up to see Lash. Before he even had the chance to say a word Warren walked up.

"You okay Hailey?" he asked. I looked and him. I wanted to run up and just bury myself in his arms, but I refrained from hugging anyone, or talking to anyone, or looking at anyone for that matter. After I'd had a minute I looked up at no one in particular. I sighed.

"I just want to go back in," I said. Lash looked at me with desperation.

"Don't,"

"And why's that,"

"Because… just please don't,"

"Not good enough Lash, later," I waved and grabbed Warren's sleeve dragging him towards the door. I pretended not to notice the smirk he flashed at Lash as we walked away. As we walked back into the dance I thought I heard Lash yell something about Gwen being a royal pain and ruining the dance, which of course I agreed with, but whatever, it didn't make sense why he would be saying something like that anyways. I shrugged it off and found the group again. Before we reached our friends Warren grabbed my arm and turned me around. I smiled at him. He hugged me. I buried my face in his shirt. I reluctantly backed away from him. I glanced behind him at Lash who was starring right at me. He looked angry. I watched as Penny and Speed joined him outside of the gym. I confused look flashed across my face. Warren held me at arms length away from him.

"Let's get back to the group," I suggested with a weak smile. He smiled back and kissed my forehead. I smiled and led him to our friends. Just as we were rejoining the group the Commander and Jetstream walked in. Principal Powers introduced them and introduced Gwen. I rolled my eyes. Just as I was about to make a wise crack about Gwen it hit me what Lash had said… well warned. By the time it clicked it was two late. Gwen was hitting the punch line.

"Today we honor the greatest super being the world has ever known… me!" A costume consumed her body and two electrical banners with the words "Royal Pain" written on them. The pacifier was hidden with in the podium. 'Royal Pain is right' I thought as I glanced around at my friends who had equally shocked looks on their faces. Time to think of a way out Hailey, no time, the Commander was a baby, and the rest of the crowd was on their way. We had to think of something, and fast.


	11. A Second Author's Note

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while, I spend the weekends at my boyfriends house on the other side of the state and with a little luck my fuel pump went out on my car so I'm stuck here until Thursday, sorry! I'll update quickly once I get home! Thanks for reading everyone!**

**-iwabo**


	12. Not the Typical High School Dance

**AN: The next chapter will be the last… I'm thinking about doing a sequel to this story next, otherwise I'm just going to start a new one. Review and let me know which you think/ prefer me to do!!! Thanks all! The next chapter will be up either tonight or tomorrow! =] **

I stood frozen, not only my mind but my body too. I couldn't properly process what was going on. I was jolted out of my daze when Warren grabbed my wrist pulling me out of the way of a ray that would have pacified me. I spun around quickly to see if the doors were open. That's when it hit me again. Only this time, my shock was even more intense. Lash stood behind the sliding metal gates. He was a part of this! I couldn't believe it. I needed to get out of my own head quickly before I would fall victim to this attack. Suddenly I felt Warren's palms on either cheek.

"Hailey!" He yelled. Why was he yelling at me? I tried yelling something back but no words would come out of my mouth. I was petrified. I was scared out of my wits. Suddenly I was snapped out of my daze momentarily by Coach Boomer's eruptive voice.

"Hot head find a way out of here, I'll hold them off," he began just as a beam hit him and caused him to transform into a baby. Warren threw a fireball at a vent cover knocking it off. Layla, Zach, Magenta, and Ethan all crawled in. Warren drug me over to it. For some reason I couldn't get myself to move or respond in anyway. I continued starring at Lash. Just as Lash glanced over at me Warren placed one hand on each of my upper arms and heated them up until they burned me. It felt like I was hit with a ton of bricks right in my head. I collapsed to the ground.

"Hailey! Get in the vent, NOW!" Warren yelled at me. I snapped out of my daze and did as I was told with no questions. Warren climbed in behind me. The vent was dark; none of us could see two feet in front of us. We had no clue where we were going.

"Hey Warren, how about a light?" Ethan asked.

"Not unless you guys want to be barbequed," he replied. I thought about shifting into a cat, then I'd have night vision and I could try to lead. Before I could get the words to leave my mouth Zach began glowing. That works too.

"Ladies, if I may," he said as he crawled past Layla and Magenta to the front of the group.

"Then all the reindeer loved him," Magenta sang. I chuckled a little. Leave it to Magenta to help brighten the mood.

"Way to glow Zach," Ethan complimented.

"Thanks man," Just as we reached the other side of the vent the cover was torn off by Will. "Sup kid?" We climbed out one at a time and stood in a semi circle. Will was looking as though he really had something important to say.

Finally he spoke up "You're never going to believe this, Gwen…"

"…is Royal Pains daughter," Layla finished.

"Yeah and she…"  
"Stole the pacifier,"

"Right…"

"And she turned everyone into babies, including your parents," Layla said. He looked confused.

"That, I didn't know,"

"I think this is even more than the great Will Stronghold can handle,"

"She's right, it's going to take all of us," Will replied.

"All of who you, Warren, and Hailey? The rest of us are just sidekicks," Ethan pointed out.

Will looked uneasy and anxious, "Just because you have powers,

That doesn't make you a hero. Sometimes it just makes you a jerk. Makes me a jerk, I guess what I'm trying to say is…"

Layla smirked. "We get it; you've been a jerk,"

Will looked at her, "Layla, in case my homecoming date ends up killing me tonight, I just want you to know..." He pulled her in and kissed her. We all looked a little surprised. I smirked up at Warren I could tell he was trying to avoid noticing.

"Isn't that sweet?" I looked up to see Penny, Lash, and Speed, "I hate sweet!"

Will sighed. "You guys are a part of this too? Why am I not surprised?"

"Go take care of Gwen, we can handle these clowns," Warren said. He took off his jacket and threw it towards the wall. Zach and Magenta climbed back into the vent. Layla, Ethan, Warren, and I stood face to face with the three of them. Penny chased Layla into the cafeteria. Speed sped past us; Warren turned around and began chasing him. I turned back and watched him. As I turned back around I saw that Lash had Ethan pinned up against a wall and attempted to punch him, Ethan melted causing Lash's fist to go straight into the wall. He yelped and looked at his throbbing fist. I stood back and smirked. 'That's what you get' I thought. Ethan stayed melted and well I guess crawled down the hall. Lash redirected his attention to me. He wouldn't hurt me, he couldn't.

No I wasn't putting it past him; I was just saying that he couldn't hurt me, because I wouldn't let him. I snapped out of my own thoughts and noticed him smirking at me.

"Well it's just you and me," he pointed out. Really, I didn't notice, dumb ass. Before I realized what was going on he grabbed my arms and drug me into the men's restroom. How tacky.

"You know Lash; I know you've never been one to really romanticize a girl but the boy's bathroom? Really? You couldn't do better than that?"

He looked mad, but not mad enough to do anything too stupid, "Hailey, I gave you plenty of chances, I even thought you were the one, but you betrayed me." I betrayed him? This was getting a bit ridiculous.

"Right, well let's just get this over with," I replied. He looked a little surprised that I didn't really seem to care. It didn't take him too long to get over that; his arms came stretching towards me. I stuck my hand out and stopped both his arms in their places. I took my other hand and lifted him into the air. I didn't really need my hands to work my powers; I just liked the dramatic affect it added to the scene. He looked around and trashed a bit like he was trying to find something to grab. I pinned his arms to his side. "Lash, Lash, Lash, I gave you plenty of chances to be a decent boyfriend, but you know, you didn't quite measure up, and now this whole, taking over the school, well I just can't allow that."

"I tried to warn you," he attempted to get out of my grip. I ripped the metal from the top of the stalls and locked his arms, legs, and waist up against the wall. I smirked and pushed myself off the ground so I was floating. I floated about an inch in front of his face. I kissed his cheek.

"Bye Lash, good luck in jail," I gently set back down the ground and walked out of the bathroom. As I was walking out Speed was flying by, Ethan melted down and caused him to slip. Warren threw a ball of flames at Speed as he crashed into the wall. I crossed my arms and looked at the boys. "Good job, Ethan, go find Zach and Magenta, Warren, let's go help Will." They both just nodded and followed my lead.

Feeling relieved that I had gotten out of that sort of trance I'd been in earlier all relief left when we entered the gym. Standing just past Will and Layla was not only Royal Pain, but a hero, well evidently now a villain. She went by the name of Psionicia; but I usually referred to her as mom. I looked at Layla and Will with confusion.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" I asked. She glanced over at me.

"Hailey, glad you could join us; I was hoping you'd be present for when Royal Pain and I execute our plan!" Did my mom just say that? Oh great. I definitely didn't see this coming. I looked nervously at all of my friends then back towards my mother. I took one last deep breath before powering up. I guess let's just do this then.


	13. Well, that's high school

**AN: Okay this is the last chapter, I hope you've all enjoyed reading! Again I'm still attempting to decide whether or not to write a sequel. So let me know whether you think I should write a sequel or start a new story with a new OC. Thanks all!**

**-iwabo**

Okay, freeze frame, here's what's gone on so far this year; my boyfriend went from joke, to a great boyfriend, to a villain, my best friend turned into my crush and my mom was now on a team with one of the most well-known super villains in order to destroy our school. Awesome, I can't wait to see what next year has in store for us. Time to get back to reality.

"Why?" I asked my mom. I really did want to know, although I wasn't really looking forward to the answer, it was probably something along the lines of how I was such a horrible child and ruined her life. My mother smirked at me.

"Hailey, I did this for you," for me… well I may be a naïve little child but I can't really see how this would be beneficial to me, "Once your father was taken away from us you were so young, and it was so difficult for me to raise you on my own. It was hard work, but I did it, and now finally things are going to be easy for us if you just choose to join me, join us!" Okay well I suppose that wasn't my fault, but still, this was nuts.

"But mom…"

Royal Pain, as rudely as possible just had to interrupt me, "Your mother betrayed you, we get it, now let's move on." I glared at her, stupid bitch.

I stopped and looked at her, "do you mind?!" I placed my hands on my hips, "I was trying to talk!" She flew forward in attempts to knock me over. I threw her to the side and jumped out of the way. It's go time. We all powered up. I looked at Warren, it would take more than just me to beat my mom, we had the same powers, but she was my mother. He smirked at me.

"You with me on this?" I asked. He nodded. I attempted to capture my mother in a force field. She turned it around on me and pulled me into the air. Meanwhile Will attempted to fight Royal Pain. Just as I tried to escape the force field my mother had me trapped in I watched Will fly out the window. My eyes widened. Warren shook his attention from the window to my mom. He threw a ball of flames at her. I felt myself falling. I waited for the shattering of my bones on the hard wooden floor, but it never came, I felt the warmth of Warren's arms beneath me. I smiled at him.

"Thanks," I said. Before he could respond we were both thrown back into the wall. I coughed and stood up. "Mother…" I took a step towards her, "I'm sick of this…" My power was building, I felt more powerful than I had in my entire life, "leave my friends and me alone!" I used my mind to throw her up against the wall and ran up to her. I lifted her up tossed her across the room. She passed out. I ran up to Warren who was still on the floor. "Are you okay?" I helped him up. He smiled at me. It was just then I noticed Will flying. I turned around and smiled. He had taken Royal Pain out. As we were all hugging and celebrating the school began falling. We pinned ourselves to the floor. I crawled over to Will. "Fly me under the school, you can try to push it and I'll try to control it with my mind… with both of us together we might be able to do it." He looked at me like I was crazy, but we all felt the sense of urgency. He wrapped his arms around me while we flew out the window. We flew under the school. No matter how hard we both tried the school wasn't even slowing.

Suddenly it felt like I'd been smashed in the head with a baseball bat. I forced myself to ignore the pain as I continued focusing on the school.

"Uh Hailey, we might have a problem!" Will said as he looked down. I broke my focus and looked down. My eyes widened. We were a football field away from the top of a house. Just as we both thought we were doomed the school slowed to a stop and began hovering again. A terrified looking citizen couple grasping each other in their arms was looking at us terrified. Will gave them a week smirk.

"That could have been messy," he laughed a little. I chuckled. He wrapped his arm around my waist and used the other hand to push the school back up.

Once we were safely up in the sky again we began unloading the babies from the school bus. Turns out Magenta chewed the wire so disengage the device that caused the anti-gravity device to malfunction. We stood around looking at all the babies.

I looked at Will, "So what now?"

He shrugged. "I don't know."

Ron Wilson handed Mr. Medulla to Warren. "Excuse me, I might be able to help," Mr. Medulla began, "Mr. Peace, can you please transport me to the mad science lab?" Warren looked confused.

"Uh sure,"

"And Mr. Peace,"

"Yeah?"

"Regrettably I've made boom-boom," Warren looked disgusted. I attempted to stifle my laugher, as did everyone else.

After a few hours of reversing the pacifier and de-pacifying everyone the dance started back up again. I stood in the corner of the room with Magenta and Zach. Layla and Will were enjoying their new found love for each other floating outside the school.

"Kinda makes me sick," Magenta said.

"Yeah me too," Zach replied. He definitely had a crush on her, I think she knew.

"You wanna dance?" she asked. Yep she knew.

"Yeah! I mean… sure," he grabbed her hand as she led the way to the dance floor. I smiled and leaned up against the wall. Leave it to me to be the wall flower at the dance now. It was slightly humorous. I starred down at my open toe heels, how I'd managed to fight in them I still didn't really know. The more I thought about it I had no clue how I just went through everything I did and my hair had barely been disrupted. Another pair of shoes stepped into place facing my own. Men's dress shoes. I looked up. Warren. My heart dropped into my stomach. I swallowed hard. He smiled down at me.

"Any chance I can get you to dance with me?" he asked. I smiled, although I couldn't manage to force out any words I'd hoped the weak excuse for a nod I gave would suffice. He grabbed my hand and led me to the dance floor. He rested his hands on my hips as I wrapped my arms around his neck. Here we were, in two weeks my life had changed completely. Suddenly all of that didn't matter anymore though. I wasn't thinking about where I would live now that I mother would be going to jail or how my ex boyfriend would have probably killed me had I given him the chance. For some reason I still can't explain all I cared about was that very moment in time when I starred into the eyes of who I knew, some how, I still don't know how, I was meant to be with. Maybe not forever, but some greater force in this universe meant for me at that very moment to be in the arms of my best friend Warren Peace. Then it hit me, we were meant for more, not just childhood friends, but more than that. "Crazy night huh?" he asked. I nodded.

"This was definitely not like any high school dance I've ever been to," I replied. His piercing eyes drilled right through me. I wanted to melt, but I couldn't, that was Ethan's power. I had to tell him how I felt; I didn't think I could hold it in any longer. "Warren, I have something I really feel like I need to talk to you about." I began. I searched through my head and prayed for the words to come. I came up very short. Absolutely nothing. He raised an eyebrow. "Umm…" I stuttered. Come on Hailey just spit it out. He smiled.

"Hailey, if I may." I nodded, why not, I sure as hell wasn't getting anywhere with this. He leaned down and kissed me. Warmth shot through my whole body. This was the moment I'd been waiting for my entire life. It sounded crazy, it sounded very cliché, and yet it felt so right. He pulled his head back just an inch from my face. Our noses were almost touching. "You were saying?"

"I think you pretty much covered it," I managed to squeak out. It was odd; I had never been one to loose my head. I definitely wasn't the type of girl that was lost for words. But here I stood, in front of someone I'd known my entire life, and although I felt so safe and comfortable in his arms, I also felt speechless. I just closed my eyes and enjoyed it. I don't know if you'd call it love, I can't say that I know what love is. I guess in a way no one really knows; but from my experience, if this wasn't love, it was the closest thing there is.

So after that night things calmed down a bit. I was sent to live with my grandmother, my only living relative not in prison. My parents were happily reunited, even if it was in prison. Warren became my boyfriend, Will and Layla started dating, and let's just say Zach and Magenta are getting there. Very slowly mind you, but hey, that's high school right? The more I thought about the year the more I realized that everything that happened was just one learning experience after another, but again _that's high school._


	14. Idea's For Sequel?

**AN:**

**So I've decided to write a sequel. But I'm having some writers block, so if you have any ideas please message them to me! Once I have some more idea's I'll post the first chapter. [Hopefully by the end of the week!]**

**Thanks loves!**

**-iwabo**


End file.
